Night (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Edna O’Brien
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1960’s, with flashbacks to the 1950’s and 1940’s
- Setting: London, with tableaux remembered from Ireland, Liverpool, the English countryside, the Continent, and New York
- Principal Characters: Mary Hooligan, Lil, Tutsie, Dr. Flaggler, Madge, Jonathan, Tig
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s, Family or family life, Love or romance, Nature, Marriage, Dreams, England or English people, Women’s issues, Women, London, Middle age
- Locales: London, England
The Novel
Mary Hooligan, ensconced in a four-poster bed in the suburban London house which she is being paid to look after for its absent owners, reviews, over the course of the winter night which gives the novel its title, her life and loves. Approaching middle age, divorced, with a grown son, she mulls over her career so far in an exuberant, zany tour de force reminiscent of Molly Bloom’s in James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) in its content and form.
Edna O’Brien’s customary fictional practice is to look at life through the eyes of a female narrator who is...
[The entire page is 2238 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
